SHANGHAI, Dec 18 (Reuters) - IM Motors, the electric car brand of Chinese state-owned automaker SAIC Motor, said on Monday it is applying to China's industry ministry for product entry of Level 3 autonomous driving cars.

IM Motors, which is also backed by Alibaba Group investments, said its EVs could be among the first models approved as legitimate highly autonomous driving vehicles by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

(Reporting by Zhang Yan, Brenda Goh; editing by Jason Neely)